Meets: Daily 10:10-11:00am Ballantine Hall 016
Topic: Food
This course provides an introduction to the study of popular culture
by focusing on the topic of food. Considering a variety of genres,
such as print and television advertising, magazine articles, the
food novel, the food film, the culinary memoir, along with various
program offerings from the Food Network, we will explore and analyze
how contemporary American society thinks of itself with regards to
both food and eating. Among the phenomena we will discuss are: the
rise of the celebrity chef, the popularity of fast food and the
recent lawsuits blaming McDonald’s and company for making customers
fat, as well as the rise of food-related programming as
entertainment for the masses. While the focus of the class will be
in American popular culture, we will read and watch materials from
other cultures around the world to determine whether and how people
use food to connect on a global basis.
**AHLA and Culture Studies B credit